Pheretrum interview

Old School Death Metal from Uruguay!

Greetings to Uruguay from Ukraine! What the fresh and interesting news from Uruguay? We really do not know any news about your country here?

Greetings metal maniacs! It is glad to be in touch with people from the other side of the world. Not much to say about our country, but terrific news is that Alvacast, a legendary heavy metal legend is going to reunite next year and they will be on stage once again!

Well, as your bio says “In 2009 we decided to create a death metal band with oldschool influences”… But I’m curious WHY right Old-School and Death Metal? Does this style most important for you?

In fact it is… we are death metal lovers and that’s why we try to play that kind of metal. Referring to the old-school term, we are not just into old-school death metal, we are into all kind of metal and the most important, to the philosophy it used to have and it is what we, as some other people around the world, try to preserve.

All I have heard from Pheretrum was two songs demo called “From the Underworlds”, and these two songs left huge impressions inside my head! Really old-school and skull-crushing Metal of Death! Beside this demo you have a single + rehearsal demo. Are there different music or the same like on the demo? What’s the main difference from your point of view (except of sound of course)?

Well, first of all we must thank you for those words!! It is what we are trying to reach!

The first rehearsal demo was all that we had up to that moment and was released before we could first play live, was a kind of promo for local audience, was raw, we thought it was fast and in 2009 we were the only band playing that kind of subgenre in our country, was a fresh idea despite the fact that it is not new. All was recorded live. With the single we were trying to be better and more professional and we went into the studio with a good friend of us (Juancho Rodriguez) that was doing all the work for passion not getting even a cent. And due to some financial issues in that time we didn’t record the drums reliably and used a drum machine. The song was in the rehearsal demo but was better arranged and more carefully recorded in order to play it as we wanted to, may be, that was not achieved during the live session of the rehearsal demo. This single was freely released on shows and it was manufactured by the band in CD-R format and homemade boxes.

“From The Underworlds” was released almost year ago… Do you working with full-length right now? When we will be able listen to it?

Indeed we are, we have been working on it since the tape was released. It is going to be out independently by the band on CD and under SouthernHellish Label/Distro on tape including a bonus track which will be a surprise for all extreme metal maniacs from Uruguay and surroundings. We wish to have it completely done in no more than one or two months from now. Besides, a band from Iran got in touch with us to release a 7” Split but we cannot talk about that too much because it is still in progress.

What’s main an idea of Pheretrum? Do you have any conception except of just playing tooth-crushing riffs and making dark atmosphere?

The main idea was to scream out what we think of the direction the whole humanity is pointing to mixed with some topics we really enjoy like space madness, lovecraftian stuff, multidimensional world, horror, etc.

You have three cover songs, to Massacre, Morgoth and Obituary. Can you say these bands had influenced on you mostly? And do you like what these bands doing last years? For example last Massacre album got too many negative feedbacks from fans…

Yes, those bands were inspiration for us, you can appreciate that in our song from the Single is almost a clone in terms of composition to Dawn of Eternity from Massacre. Those bands were not the only inspiration but those tracks were what we could play almost good at rehearsals hahaha.

I personally check daily metal news and stuff from old bands. I try to keep on moving on new releases from classic bands but also from time to time I get great recommendations of newer bands that are amazing.

For instance, I think the newest EP from Brutality was a great return and I am looking forward to getting more stuff from them coming out but the bands you mentioned before are just disappointing their fans cause has nothing to do with what they used to be. Massacre is totally different, is not the same band, I cannot understand why Federico Delillo is not soloing as he used to… and vocals are not as good as they were, music is dull. Morgoth did a great live return, their latest DVD was amazing, all the old tracks there… terrific, but their EP was almost repetitive and mixed with some breakdown that are awful, not so good… and to finish with this critics, Obituary released a song from their next album on YouTube that was pure shit.

What about gigs? Do you play live in your country just or maybe you had the luck to play abroad yet?

We play live here every time we can and we went to play to Argentina in 2011 I guess…  We are planning to make a tour after the album is released but we don’t know really when cause the costs are too high for us at this moment.

Pheretrum – what means this title?

Hahahaha, is it the coffin? We were looking for a name that wasn’t heard before and the idea of being written in ancient Greek was a thing we liked, just like the ancient vision we had on music and so.

There are 4 people in line-up of your band. Do you all long years friends or you just met to play music back in 2009? How often you share the time with beers in your hands?

We are all family, that’s what makes the band strong. Most of the bands here tend to live no more than two years or so… we are 5 years old by now and we still have the strength to keep on this to death!

It will be easier to tell you how much time we spend together without beer!

I can name just a few bands from your country… You have such statement “The very first band in Uruguay to recreate the oldschool extreme aggression when all forgot the real essence of extreme metal”. Really? All the bands lost old-school feelings? Means almost all the bands playing some modern shit? I know some good thrash metal bands for example…

Almost.

By the time we were stucked with this conviction we were alone on the road and stupid people from the audience even laughed at us when we said it was for real and that we were going to release a tape. So there you have your answer.

Luckily later appeared some great bands on the same path like Putrefaxion and Karnage that are great friends from us and we are on almost every show they are, if we are not together this won’t survive.

 And what about the feedback you got from your domestic fans? Do they support you? How the sales of the demo tape are going? It was released in 150 copies, are all of them sold out completely?

We were extremely well received in Argentina, lots of people there were asking for shirts, tapes, etc… I delivered some copies when I were in Chile and sent through some pals that traveled some copies to Belgium and US, in Uruguay the tapes are sold out and I have under my possession few copies left to send to friends outside the country that were extremely interested in it.

This is a small country, proportionally, small number of metalheads, and if you  know oldschool die hards fans are small groups in bigger societies imagine what is left for us here hahahaha. But we don’t care; we will keep playing and recording till we die.

Btw, how going metal life there in Uruguay? Are there some brotherhood between metal fans? Are they gathering often to drink some alcohol and make some bestial party?

I don’t feel that of brotherhood that old friends tend to remember when they are talking about the old times in here. We try to have that with some bands but there’s no compromise, at least not in group… the individual thought is killing everything on its way.

Fact about your country – 1973 – 1984 was a period of military dictatorship. Were you born already? Did you lived while that regime? Or maybe your relatives told you how it was… How could you describe life in your country those years and now? What is difference? And how’s life conditions there? What the salaries, fees and etc… Please tell us detailed, I’m sure not only me interested in this theme.

I was not there, we were all born in the late 80s, we have relatives that lived that period and the stories are tons, I did my own retrospective in terms of music watching the whole world and just Uruguay, when extreme metal was developing we were under this dictatorship, when it was gone, raw and extreme metal bands arose with anger, power and the most important thing with the will to scream out loud their despise and all in different kinds of metal, it was not progressive, it was all mixed up death, thrash, heavy, black, etc.

Our country is beautiful some people is not, the life conditions are painful for some, good for others, like everywhere else in south America, two words: third world.

I know people from Czech Republic that are thinking of moving here… I guess for Europeans this country is good but living here and working, it depends on your academic studies, people without studies are earning no more than US$500 (and even less than that per month) and renting a room costs that amount of money, think about it.  Middle class salary goes around US$750 – US$1.400 more or less. Services like energy power, water, (no gas in Uruguay cause is really expensive), phone line + internet are around, bus ticket (in the order mentioned) US$50 , US$10, US$35, US$2.5  and food supplies goes around US$300 or more per month.

Chaos themes… Do you think chaos WILL be on earth or it IS already? And from your point of view – are the humans worth living at the earth or people just destroying all around?

Hell on earth!! , but we have the power to change it. Just like Judas Priest said

“Put yourself in our hands, so our voices can be heard,
And together we will take on all the world”

I won’t see peace during my lifetime, but I will keep struggling to improve society in any way and not taking for granted it is just fucked up and sees how it burns down. It’s just not me, not us.

What do you know about Ukraine? Also do you know what happened there? Russian aggression and etc… What are your personal thoughts on this topic?

About Ukraine, one or two bands I guess hahaha…

I read something about your situation, 2014 and this shit still happen. I should not give you my opinion cause at this moment I don’t remember in detail all the situation and media distortions information, Russia put military tanks in the borders and they are repressing people and those things right ?  that’s stupid in anyway no excuse!, always ambition, power and wealthy people just sit to watch, after all I wish the best for all the people in your country, war has to end.

Well, that’s all I wanted to ask now. Thx for your time and keep it true! \M/

Thanks to you for your time, your interest in us and cheers to all the maniacs in Ukraine!! We’ll meet in the underworlds!!

Aleksandr (10-10-2014)